Defending NRL premiers Melbourne have lost that loving feeling.
Coach Craig Bellamy looked lost when searching for an explanation to sum up why his side, who were on the verge of creating history a fortnight ago, have now lost back-to-back clashes.
Riding a 15-game winning streak that seemed destined to rival Eastern Suburbs’ rugby league-record 19-game run, everything unravelled against Canberra last weekend.
And by halftime, down 12-0 against lowly Penrith on Sunday night, Bellamy could hardly see any passion on the faces of his players.
“I can’t remember seeing, at halftime, as many blank eyes,” a dejected Bellamy said after the match.
“They just didn’t look excited about being here.
“It’s something new to us.”
Bellamy accused his troops of lacking the requisite hunger to take on an NRL team.
“Our guys just seem as though they’re not really excited about playing footy at the moment,” he said.
“Our second half was good but our first half, we just weren’t here mentally.
“We’ve got to find that love of wanting to go out there and compete because we haven’t got that at the moment.”
Captain Cameron Smith doesn’t know how his squad can recapture the hunger, but expects to find it on the training paddock.
After the match, the hooker said Penrith second-rower and former Storm player Clint Newton told him they were particularly revved up leading into the fixture and that’s typical of the mindset opposition teams have against the defending champions.
“The hard thing for us is that it doesn’t matter who we play,” Smith said.
“Every game we play, teams are up for us.
“But in every other team’s mind, I reckon the team that wins (the premiership), they’re the hunted.
“We know it’s coming. We have to get our heads around playing teams that are going to be playing their best football every week.”